Register Domain Names Before Filing for TM!

In my article about checking for trademarks, Jackie asked, “Why do you prefer trademarkia.com over trademark247.com?” The simple reason is that I had not used the other website before but found Trademarkia.com to be effective enough to continue using it. Essentially, it gave me the information I was seeking and I did not have a need to search around to find something else.

This morning, I visited Trademark247.com to see if it offered anything that would add more value to me. One thing I noticed on that website is a link to recent trademark filings. I am not sure if Trademarkia has that information, but I have not seen it before.

When looking at that section, I was curious to see if these trademark applicants were registering their domain names before filing for their trademarks. In the case of generic trademarks – ie single word or common two word phrases, it looks like the matching domain names were all registered long before the trademark filing. Interestingly, the matching domain names for the few uncommon terms I looked up were registered within the last few days and have a “for sale” landing page.

It is not surprising that someone or some people are registering domain names that match trademark filings. I don’t think it’s the nice thing to do – and I think it gives domain investors a bad name – but it is what it is.

The surprising thing is that people were not grabbing their matching domain names before filing for their trademarks. I would have thought that would be the first thing someone would do! My brand naming process would be to list brand names I like, search to see if the domain name is available to register or buy, secure the domain name, and then seek out an attorney to file the trademark. Maybe that’s just my mindset because of being a domain investor, but I would have thought others would be more mindful of domain name availability.

Trademark applicants should definitely seek out their ideal domain name before filing for a trademark. It would seem that there are people monitoring new trademarks, and the matching domain name could be registered once the trademark application becomes public.

About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, LLC, a company that has sold seven figures worth of domain names in the last five years. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest.

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